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Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha speaks, alongside U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, during a G7 Session on Ukraine and Defence Cooperation during the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting at the White Oaks Resort in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada, November 12, 2025.— Reuters
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A group of seven foreign ministers on Wednesday discussed increasing pressure on Russia over its war in Ukraine while backing US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the conflict in Gaza and secure the return of Israeli hostages.
The ministers issued a final joint statement in which they expressed full support for Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza and return the remaining dead Israeli hostages held by Hamas, while expressing concern about restrictions on the flow of aid to the Palestinian enclave.
A U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on October 10, but efforts to advance the second phase of Trump’s plan have fizzled.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Canada’s Niagara Region for the meeting, joined by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sabiha, who has pushed Kiev’s allies to bolster their long-range missile capability and bolster its energy sector as Ukraine enters another winter of war.
Countries attending a meeting of foreign ministers in Canada on Wednesday were also concerned about US military operations in the Caribbean and whether armed attacks by Washington on alleged drug-trafficking boats violated international law.
US President Donald Trump has sought rapprochement with Moscow and held a summit with Putin in Alaska in August. But they have backed calls for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine with forces in their current positions, while Moscow has said it wants Kiev to gain more territory.
In their joint statement, the ministers reiterated their call for an immediate ceasefire and said “we are increasing economic costs for Russia, and are exploring measures against countries and institutions that help finance Russia’s war effort.”
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kalas told Reuters at the talks that discussions on Ukraine revolved around putting more pressure on Russia to seek peace after the United States concluded that Moscow was not serious about ending the war.
“To get them to relax, we have to put more pressure,” Callas said. “They (the US) have engagements (with Russia) and we all welcome their engagements to truly achieve peace.
Efforts to arrange a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump were put on ice last month, as Moscow’s rejection of an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine clouded talks.
Ukraine’s Sibiha praised Washington’s new energy sanctions imposed on Russian oil companies last month, after meeting with G7 ministers.
“We need to continue increasing the cost of war for Putin and his regime, and force Russia to end the war,” he wrote on X.
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand earlier announced additional sanctions against Moscow, targeting Russia’s drone program, liquefied natural gas facilities and ships from Russia’s shadow fleet, according to a statement.
Boat strikes
The ministers said in their statement that they “reaffirmed their joint commitment to strengthen cooperation in securing sea ports and routes against illegal drug trafficking” but made no specific reference to the intensification of the US military campaign in Latin American waters.
The US military has carried out at least 19 strikes against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean and off the Pacific coast of Latin America, killing at least 76 people.
On Tuesday, the French foreign minister openly criticized the US strikes, while on Wednesday a senior European official said the G7 meeting would be the “ideal place” to discuss US military actions, although it was not officially on the agenda.
“This is where we have to exchange views on controversial issues – and what the US is doing in the Caribbean is about everything,” the European official said.
“We have observed the concern of military operations in the Caribbean region, because they violate international law and because France is present in its overseas territories in the region, where more than a million of our compatriots live,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Naul Birot said on the sidelines of the G7.
Ministers from the G7 wealthy nations held a meeting on maritime security on Wednesday morning, but it was not clear that the boat attacks were directly addressed.
The Trump administration has insisted that those targeted were taking drugs, without providing any evidence or publicly explaining the legal basis for the decision to attack the boats instead of stopping them and arresting those on board.
The United States has publicly justified its actions in accordance with Article 51 of the founding UN Charter, which requires the UN Security Council to be immediately informed of any action that states take in self-defense against armed attack.
Acknowledging US justification for the strikes, a group of independent UN experts said last month: “Even if such allegations are proven, the use of lethal force in international waters without a proper legal basis violates the international law of the sea and amounts to extraterritorial executions.”
On Tuesday, CNN reported that Britain is no longer sharing intelligence with Washington about suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it believes the raids are illegal.
Rubio held a brief meeting with British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper on the sidelines of the G7 meeting, a State Department official said.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro ordered Colombian public security forces to suspend intelligence sharing with US intelligence agencies until Washington stopped attacking boats in the Caribbean.
